“Pop music shouldn’t always get a bad rap,” says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles. This round-up list includes our favorite pop tracks from 2012, listed in a spectrum from the chillest to the grooviest to the danciest. Chromatics – “Into The Black” (Neil Young Cover)...Read...

September 30th, 2012 @ Roseland Theatre, Portland, OR +++ SEE ALSO: FULL SHOW REVIEW + DUSTIN WONG + THRILL JOCKEY RECORDS On recording, I absolutely adore Beach House, but every time I see them in a live setting, I find myself disappointed by the lack of emotional output and dynamism from husky-voiced lead singer Victoria...Read...

Grizzly Bear Shields Warp Records With the release of Shields this past week, the transformation of Grizzly Bear from an indie band into a full-fledged pop band is in its final stages. If you’ve been watching their trajectory over the past 6-7 years, you’ll know exactly what I mean. The band started with a rather...Read...

“Pop music shouldn’t always get a bad rap,” says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles. Two of indie rock’s big hitters, Beach House and Dirty Projectors, continue to explore their own sonic universes with new tracks, upcoming releases, and extensive tour dates. Beach House Two tracks so...Read...

The online indie shop Insound have put together a series of poster and t-shirt designs for a bunch of bands that are the who’s who of indie rock right now. Here are some of the posters from that series — the best ones, actually. Some bands got slightly unexciting creations (notably, Liars), but others really...Read...

5. Beach House www.myspace.com/beachhousemusic Beach House are one of those bands that people kept talking about — you know, those buzz bands that get hyped up and are made out to be the new cool thing to listen to. However, Beach House actually does live up to all the hype. The indie rock duo is...Read...